Information and commentary about the struggle for democracy in the African kingdom of Swaziland

Monday, June 24, 2013

LOW TURNOUT SO REGISTRATION GOES ON

King Mswati III
of Swaziland has ordered election registration in the kingdom to be extended by
a week as the number of people signing up has failed to reach targets.

The Elections
and Boundaries Commission (ECB) announced that with two days of registration
still to go only 344,679 of an estimated 600,000 potential voters had signed
up. This represents only 57.45 percent of the eligible population. At the last
election in 2008, 88 percent of eligible voters registered to vote.

The ECB has been
trying to talk up the figures saying there had been a rush to register over the
final two days of registration which ended on Sunday (23 June 2013).

ECB Chair Chief
Gija Dlamini also told media in Swaziland that the figures were inaccurate
because some people who registered have yet to appear on the ECB computer. He
also said some Swazi people who wanted to register were presently outside the
kingdom

Chief Gija has
once again denied that the ECB had targeted to register 600,000 people. He told
the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in
effect owned by King Mswati, ‘It would have been a miracle to have 600,000 of
the populace within the given times but it is only fair for EBC to use it as a
measure to attempt to register a high number. However we are pleased with the
current figures of the people who have registered and we are hopeful that
before the deadline we would have reached 400,000.’

He added there
were no threats to the elections even if the 600,000 was not reached. ‘There
is nothing wrong even if the figures do not reach half of the estimated
population,’ he said.

Chief Gija told a press conference that the deadline for registration
had been extended to 30 June 2013 in
order to avoid possible stampedes and overcrowding at the registration centre.

He told the media, ‘We have been sent by the King to announce the extension of the
registration process.’

The ECB has yet to address the real reasons for the low
turnout. King Mswati, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch, and those who support him, believe the Swazi people support his
undemocratic political system, known as tinkhundla, but the evidence of the
voting suggests this might not be the case.

The election due in September has always been recognised
as bogus by the international community. Now, more than ever, people within the
kingdom might be coming to the same conclusion. All political parties are
banned from taking part in the election due in September and the parliament that
is selected is seen as a rubber stamp for the king.

The election is for 55 members of the 65-seat House of
Assembly. The king appoints the other 10 members. No members of the 30-strong
Swazi Senate are elected by the people: 20 senators are appointed by the king
and the other 10 are selected by members of the House of Assembly.

A campaign organised by prodemocracy groups to boycott
the election has been gathering momentum over the past few months.